When the old Cable & Wireless dish was taken down in Smith's parish, the company probably didn't realise it was inadvertently dismantling a teleport into the Bermuda Triangle.

"Thank goodness we got a picture first," said Rod Farrington author of newly released 'Spinners Curse Of The Bermuda Abyss' episode III in his Spinners Series. "It was there when I started writing, and gone by the end of the book." The books are aimed at the young adult market, but have a strong adult following.

Mr. Farrington is a periodic resident of Bermuda. He is a director of Gorham's Ltd. and has lived in Bermuda for up to six years. Now he moves back and forth between Bermuda and the United States. He is a software designer by trade.

He released his first book 'Spinners: The Lost Treasure of Bermuda' in August 2005, and the second one 'Spinners Protectors of the Bermuda Triangle' in September 2006. The latest one was on shelves shortly before Christmas.

Mr. Farrington said it is better to read the books in order, but they can be understood on their own.

For many local, self-published authors breaking even is an almost unheard of measure of success, particularly for fiction writers and poets.

"Bermuda is a limited market, but in the latest book's first week over 200 copies sold; so I feel real good about that," said Mr. Farrington.

"I don't see any money at all until I sell out of the first edition. Up until then, everything I do is out of my pocket. My first book looks like it may soon do that." And, Mr. Farrington said the next book in a series sometimes helps to sell the earlier ones, because people want to read them in order.

"Some of the locals will tend to buy just the first one to start, but the tourists will buy all three," Mr. Farrington said. "Because I have a website, I get emails from tourists who have read them who want the next one. Before Christmas, I got a lot of emails from people wanting the latest one to give as a Christmas present."

He is also lucky to have his books available on major websites such as Amazon and Target as well as through Bermuda's bookstores.

"It is a neat thing and it sells for the same price there as here," he said. "And all the orders come through Printlink, which is a local company." He was also proud that a bookstore in his hometown in Louisiana was also carrying the book.

"Bermuda is always importing things," he said. "Here is an example where it is exporting something."

Mr. Farrington said people in his hometown were interested in the book, because three of the characters came from there.

"They are confederate blockade runners," he said. "I tied that to the blockade runners in St. George's. So even back in Louisiana they have something to identify with. Of course, everyone is interested in the Bermuda Triangle, so they actually, sell pretty well there."

He said that each of his books has taken a lot of research, and people always ask him a lot of questions.

"My readers are often unaware of the historic events I write about," he said. "I have had several parents write to me to say that their kids were getting interested in Bermuda history after reading my books. I write about places like Devil's Hole and Shark's Hole and things like that."

He said he does all of his research in Bermuda in the spring and summer. He tends to write in the winter.

His son Jason designed the graphics for all three books which contain pictures for each chapter. And the graphics have turned out to be no small part of the books' appeal.

"I was at a book signing recently, and the very first lady walked up and said she didn't care what the book was about, she just loved the cover," said Mr. Farrington.

In Episode III, a group of teenagers find themselves back in history, and stuck at the bottom of the ocean on a sunken ship.

"This one to me is probably the most exciting one," said Mr. Farrington. "This one is really different from several aspects. For one thing, the Spinners are teenagers. To get through this one, they really have to rely on their education and brains. That is the reason part of this is underwater. If they can't use their brains they can't get back to the surface without killing themselves with the bends. So that made it fun to write.

"The other thing that is different about this novel is that the villains are real characters from history. One of the pirates is a pirate that was lost in time. No one ever knew what happened to him. He was one of the most successful pirates, plundering five hundred million dollars. He was the perfect character to be lost in the Bermuda Triangle."

Mr. Farrington is already working on his next novel.

"I am very excited about the next one," he said. "It is not a Spinners. I am halfway through. I took one of the minor characters, a police inspector who has been in all three Spinners books. He will be the central character in the new book. It is kind of a James Bond action adventure set in Bermuda. In the book, events in the Middle East begin to affect Bermuda."